Page 37 of Beauty and the Beard

“That’s what the woodstove is for.” I tap the iron stove near the back wall. “It made sense to use wood to heat the place. I’m surrounded by it and I had a bunch of trees to burn.”

His lips fight a smile. “Did you chop the wood yourself, too?”

“Of course I did.”

“Can you teach me how to chop a piece of wood?”

“I can, but it’s not as easy as it looks.”

He nods, accepting my information, and that determination of his that forces him to try different things never waivers.

“I want to try. When I came here, part of my goal was to try things people didn’t think I’d be capable of.” He hugs his arms around his waist. “People make a lot of assumptions about me and sometimes doing things to contradict those assumptions makes me…I don’t know, feel validated in a way.”

His honesty touches me. I don’t think he knows how brave he actually is.

“Then let’s get you chopping wood. I should still have axes over in the processing barn.”

I explain as we lock the cabin and walk to the barn that it was a joint decision between Connor and me to stop working the sugar bush until we got the lodge running efficiently and could give it the time it needed. All the taps and tubing, bottles and pails and whatever else were stored here, collecting dust.

The time to reopen it never came because Connor died. There was no room in my life to return here and take it on. Especially when it held so many memories.

More dust greets us in the processing barn, and Sasha gasps.

“Holy crap! Is that a giant stove?”

Laughing, I pat my hand on the enormous wood fuelled processing stove.

“It is. The best way to process sap is by wood fire. You need a high temperature that a normal stove top just can’t reach, so this baby burns hot. The sap goes in a giant vat up there. We monitor the sugar content and once it’s at the right concentration, it funnels over here to cool and then get bottled.”

“Wow.” Sasha breathes and steps closer. He takes in the old setup with fresh eyes and his fascination reminds me of myself when I first learned all this stuff. And it ignites my want to do it again.

Locating my two favourite axes, I motion towards the door.

“Come on, let’s get you learning to chop wood.”

A pile of old wood sits in the centre of the main yard. Some of it has started to rot and might not even be good enough for a bonfire. But there’re still some old pieces of oak and poplar that look up to the task of being chopped.

Hefting a large hunk of poplar on the chopping block, I explain to Sasha how the weight of the axe does most of the work for you. I demonstrate with a few swings into the block of wood and when I turn back to Sasha, his cheeks are flushed a gorgeous pink. Even his neck.

“Are you okay? You look flushed? Do you need water?”

Setting the axe against the wood block, I stride towards him. My heart races with thoughts of him being sick or heat stroked. I should have made him drink more.

“N-no. I’m good. Very good. You, ah…hoo… I was not aware watching a lumberjack in action would be this hot.”

“So you’re not sick?”

He shakes his head slowly and lightly bites at his lip.

“Oh, no. Nope. Not sick. Hot though. Very hot. The good kind.”

Now it’s my turn to be uncomfortable as Sasha looks at me like I’m his next meal. And I don’t hate it.

“So, do you still want to learn how to do it?” My lips twitch as I try not to smile. “Or are you too overheated?”

His gorgeous lips tilt into a smile that’s pure sex, and my pulse races.

“A hundred percent, yes, I still want to doit.” Sasha draws out thetand licks his lips. His eyes sparkle with mischief and I draw a breath to steady myself.

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